hardware? >> That's next at six. A 29 year old chef from Harbor Springs died over the weekend from a rare fungal disease that ravaged his lungs according to his family. Ian Prichard was being treated for. Oh my sources which the CDC says is caused by inhaling a fungus that lives in moist soil and decomposing wood and leaves. >> He got sick shortly before Thanksgiving and after months of not responding to the treatment he asked to be taken off life support. We talked with his father today. One day before what would have been Ian's 30th birthday both held his hands and he was he was pretty well bald. >> So he held his hands and rubbed his head and he had a thing where when he was a baby if I rubbed between his eyes, you know he would go right to sleep when he was baby And it worked every time. And I did a little bit of that and I asked him if he remembered that. And he you know, he said yes And you know, we told him that we loved him and that we were proud of him and we didn't want to see him go. But if that's what he wanted, you know, we'd see him on the other side. I mean it is heartbreaking. Health experts say these infections are rare. Most people who breathe in those spores don't get sick. However, some develop flu like symptoms. Earl Prichard says that they are planning a celebration of life. And joining us now is Liam Monday, an infectious disease expert and doctor at the Detroit Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at Wayne State University. He's also a specialist at Carruthers Cancer Institute which treats cancer patients for infections. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you so much for having me. >> So this is a very heartbreaking, devastating story. How rare is this And also how did we end up in this situation for this young man? >> So you know this this is an exceedingly tragic and rare case for an immunologically normal 29 year old healthy adult to contract this and then get so ill and die from it is very, very unusual and certainly a very tragic case that this young man succumbed to this illness. Now we mentioned it can be in decomposing wood and leaves and the soil. So that is even more terrifying if it sounds like just going outside you can potentially contract it. But tell us about that process just contracting it in and would there be any effect for most people? >> Right. So you know this is what we call one of the endemic mycosis meaning sort of native to the Midwest south central US especially the Great Lakes region around fresh water lakes and rivers. So in particular Michigan people can get this. And like you said, most people would breathe in spores. They would never get ill Even if they did get sick they might have a self-limited flu like illness like a cough or fever And it would be very, very rare for someone to have lung disease that was so invasive. And then in rare cases it can also sort of what we call disseminated or go into the skin or the brain. And normally when that happens the person has something wrong with their immune system such as cancer or HIV or perhaps they're on a medication that might suppress their immune system for something like Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis or autoimmune medication. And those are the people who would be most at risk of having a really bad outcome like this. So in this case I'm I'm not quite sure why this healthy young man had such a severe situation happen. >> So knowing that underlying health conditions are a factor, this isn't necessarily something that the general public needs to be extremely concerned about. >> You know, I think that's a really good question. I think, you know, for the general public it sounds terrifying that oh my gosh, this is in the wood behind my house. But people that are on chemo, people that are on certain medication and you know, they should tell their doctor if they like to dig in soil or hike and go out in nature a lot they should let their doctor know in particular for example on the cancer unit where we do bone marrow transplants So you're not allowed to bring in fresh flowers or flesh plants for for this exact reason because they can harbor mold or yeast in the environment and I think for a lot of people it would be if you have a compromised immune system and you are getting sick with something in your lungs or a cough and not getting better antibiotics to just make sure that this someone thinks about this. >> And is there any reason to avoid you know, I don't want to say just being outside but it sounds like heavily wooded areas, hiking. Is there any reason to take precautions like that? You know, I thought about you asking me this question a lot because I love to go hike especially up north and in Petoskey and the area where he was from. And you know, my chances as someone with a normal immune system going up there hiking, being exposed and having this happen, it's much more likely that I would get in a car accident on the way than have this happen. So I think we don't want to fear monger. >> We don't want people not hiking and getting out and having activity but we should be cognizant people on chemo, people on these immunosuppressive medications to be aware of the risk of especially soil and excavation exposure and to just make sure they let their doctor know if they're having a cough and bad symptoms. In the case for and I really don't know how this could have sort of been avoided. And Dr. Monday, for the people that you just listed, are there some preventative measures that they can maybe put in place just in case just to be careful? >> Yeah. So you know, people who are undergoing bone marrow transplant or certain chemotherapy get regularly put on medicine to protect them from moles And then other people they choose to avoid things like gardening or hiking or even people that are working construction jobs during times of suppression treatment for their medication. They will avoid going to work for those times and get a doctor's note to protect them from exposure. >> All right. Well, thanks so much for being here with us. It is a little reassuring to know all of this And that car accident metaphor I think espe
